The Weekend Anthology
by Arii-hime
Summary: Passage 1: "So I take an interest in little brats. What's so wrong about that?" Short anthology of drabbles.


I really need to stop making whole other fics when I have ones that I still need to update *coughs and looks at _Ace Of Hearts_* But the idea I thought of was way too awesome to just have in just one story so I thought...what's so bad about making more drabbles? :D

**Inspiration:** This one kid in kindergarten (can't remember his name) who went to this daycare that my mom used to work at. When I told him my name he asked if I had a nickname, and I told him it was Lili. Then he started calling me "Lily". It was so sweet. :3 Except I scammed him for Pokemon cards.

**Disclaimer:** Ariisha-chan does not own Gakuen Alice or Pokemon. Owning either one would be pretty kewl though. And this applies to every single chapter 'cos she gets really sick of these things. And then forgets to put one. Not that Pokemon references will be in every single chapter, but...

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><p><em><strong>The Weekend Anthology<strong>_

**1: Small Time**

"So I take an interest in little brats. What's so wrong about that?"

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><p><strong>Central Town: Arisuchairudo, Manager's office - 15 hours prior to Saturday, Day One<strong>

"A childcare facility? How _manly_, Baldy."

Tsubasa flinched—both at her mocking tone and the nickname—resisting the extreme urge to make a snappy retort or grab her shadow and make her do something stupid while doing the aforementioned because he knew what was on the line—possibly including his life, depending on what he said/did. "It's a change of pace," he argued. "Ever heard of the phrase, 'tough guys wear pink'? This is like the equivalent!" Hotaru spun a complete 360 in the swivel chair before facing him, a look of utter content on her face.

Worst sign ever.

"A change of pace, huh?" she drawled, plucking the bow on her middle school uniform, pondering. "Are you sure this has nothing to do with that Harada girl whom you secretly call Princess Bubblegum Ice Cream Tart in your head because of her love of ice cream, and who just so happens to work here as well?"

"No, it definitely does not—_waitaminute_, _how the fudge do you know that?_"

Koko popped out of the side door that led to the filing room. "Sorry, Baldy," he said with a sheepish grin. "She said she'd give me a raise."

Tsubasa seethed. "This is a fricking_ part time job_ on the weekends and she's not even the _boss_."

"Exactly. I'm the manager. Coincidentally, the person who also can decide whether or not to kick you the hell out of here right now."

_That_ shut him up—although he didn't particularly enjoy being talked down to by someone younger than him.

"Well, do you, Shadow? Like her?"

"Uh, no. So I take an interest in little brats. What's so wrong about that?"

"How you just said it," Koko piped up, then ducked back into the filing room when Tsubasa shot him a maleviolent glare.

"Just admit it, Shadow. You're madly in love with this girl and now you want a job here so you can stalk her on weekends too, as if you don't see her enough during your regular and joint classes." Tsubasa opened his mouth to complain some more, but stopped when he saw her sliding an application towards him.

"I don't care what your motives are; we just need another person to watch the afternoon group till the bus comes to take them back to the elementary dorms for the night," Hotaru sighed. "Harada, Megane and Sono are already a part of that group and three people is enough, but there's too many kids for them. Harada can't use her Alice for more than an hour at a time because it wears her out, Megane's Alice scares the kids and Sono's Alice is pretty much useless when it comes to calming down a group of fifty or so three- to nine-year-olds—though he _does_ charm them pretty well. But he's usually absent, as you know." Hotaru's face changed the slightest before she went on, "A shadow user would be helpful in getting them to stop running around so much."

"Does this mean I have the job?"

Hotaru spun around again, turning away from him. "Technically, yes."

* * *

><p>"Also...why did you choose the <em>daycare<em> to do your weekend work at?"

"Let's just say that I have a soft spot for children."

"...Yeah."

* * *

><p><strong>Alice Academy: Auditorium - 2 days prior to acceptance and 3 days prior to Saturday, Day One<strong>

"Attention, students of Alice Academy." Shuuichi Sakurano bent the microphone towards himself. The auditorium fell silent, each student attentive.

"Recently the Principals, including myself and the other student principals, have decided to change the students' schedules around. The new schedule applies to the Elementary, Middle and High School Divisions, so don't worry about any problems of confusion." Sakurano smiled at some of the relieved faces. Then he launched into his description.

"On weekdays there will be regular classes, as usual. But on Tuesdays and Thursdays only there will be joint classes, and on the weekends you will have the chance to participate in a 'weekend job'." A slight buzzing went through the large crowd of students. "A weekend job is simply a part-time job that you work at on weekends—true to its name—before resuming your regular school schedule. There are many places in Central Town where you can work. It is your choice whether to participate in one or not, but strongly advised that you do, as it is a convenient way to increase your Star Level and earn money before you get your monthly paycheck." The whispers grew louder, but instantly stopped when Jinno shushed them. "However, the Elementary students—the ones below age ten—will be sent to a large daycare for the weekend, as they are too young to begin working yet, where they will be looked after by you, Middle and High School Division students—that is, if you choose to work there." More whispers started up again. "There are a variety of options for you, so feel free to take your time choosing the right one." Sakurano stepped away from the microphone, smiling, as clapping and excited chatter ensued.

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><p><strong>Central Town: Arisuchairudo, Lobby - 5 hours into Day One, 7 hours till closing<strong>

It was a _hellhole_.

Tsubasa couldn't remember the last time he'd seen so many elementary schoolers in his life—maybe at the ceremonies, or when he was an elementary schooler himself, but he didn't ever remember there being so many. And they were _everywhere_.

Their favorite game seemed to be a very idiotic version of tag, where they chased each other around screaming and knocking over whatever was in their way—sometimes, even the occassional unfortunate child. It took three jars of candy, a box of Twinkies and a whole hour of bribing and catching shadows to get them to just stop running around. But then they just played their second favorite game: the random screaming game.

He also couldn't ever remember a time when they were so—

"OHMIGAWD, I FOUND A SHINY PIKACHU!"

—_stupid_.

Tsubasa rolled his eyes before turning around and smiling at the little six-year-old girl who was wildly waving her DS in the air. "Good for you," he said cheerfully, swiftly grabbing the arm of a three-year-old who had just ran by him with a pair of scissors in her hand—the _sharp_ kind. "Catch it, raise it and kick ass with it." He added under his breath, "And don't release it like dumbass Meggie did when he found that one shiny and thought it had a disease."

"ANDOU!"

He turned and smiled sheepishly at Misaki Harada, whose one hand was on her hip and the other holding a small boy who was sucking his thumb rather intently. "Sorry," he said. "My tongue slipped."

"It's only been two hours and your tongue has 'slipped' about five times already." She marched over to where he was standing and pulled his hat down squarely over his face. The little girl he had in his arms giggled. "If Miss Imai hears you, you know she'll have you gutted and strung up by your toes, right? You were never one to read the rules anyway." Was that a hint of affection in her voice? Tsubasa's heart skipped a few beats anyways.

"Ooh, Harada and Andou are flirting again!" Tsubasa cringed and resisted the urge to flip Megane the bird, and decided to go with a feeble, "Shut up, Meggie."

"Hey! Who're you calling Meggie—_ow ow ow_! Watch it, kid!" Four kids were crawling all over him, and one had just stepped on his face.

"Misa-hag-chan. Shadow-ugwee-kun." Five-year-old Youichi Hijiri was pulling on Misaki's skirt. "I hungwee."

The other childrens' heads snapped towards You-chan as if he had cursed. Megane burst out laughing, Misaki scowled and Tsubasa said in amazement, "Ugly-kun? Really?" You-chan's face, however, remained neutral.

Misaki bent down in front of You-chan, and although she looked like she'd much rather be beating the sauce out of him, she said sweetly, "Well, lunchtime's just around the corner. Think you can hold out for a little while longer?" She took his hand and he snatched it away.

"Wead me a stowie then, Misa-hag-chan," he said, holding out a story book.

Misaki's face darkened. "No."

You-chan's face scrunched up. The hand holding the object went back.

Megane started, "Uh, Harada—"

And You-chan smacked her with the book.

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><p><strong>Central Town: Kurimina ice cream vendor near Arisuchairudo - 6 hours into Day One, 6 hours till closing<strong>

It had taken Tsubasa, Megane, Hotaru's threats, ten eight-year-olds and promises of ice cream and all things happy to make Misaki and two of her doppelgangers stop pulling—more accurately, _yanking_—on You-chan's cheeks, and three six-year-olds and candy bribes to make You-chan stop retaliating by throwing everything within his reach at her and biting and kicking. Tsubasa had never witnessed anything that violent in—well, forever.

Between a high-schooler and a five-year-old, that is.

Right now, Misaki was on her fourth bowl of Neopolitan, mowing through it at the speed of light, occasionally stopping to press the cold spoon against the fresh red mark on her cheek before dipping right back into the ice cream. Tsubasa made sure to keep one foot on her shadow just in case she decided to do something crazy (because rage can make people do some seriously crazy things), and gauged her mood every now and then while relishing the fact that he was alone with her, without Megane or the kids around. Hotaru's guess about his motives for choosing the daycare for his weekend job was, he now noted, pretty spot-on.

"Children."

The word she suddenly uttered snapped him from his daydream and he blinked at her. "Huh?"

"Children," she repeated. "They all mean well. Especially the ones here." She stuck her spoon in the near-devoured ice cream. "What can they help? They were taken away from their parents when they were not even fully developed yet. I don't think anyone wanted to go. Like you and me, and Megane and Kaname." She pointed to him, then herself. "I remember...we've all known each other since we were three, right? I barely knew anything about anything when I was three." She sighed. "The last thing I did before I came to the Academy was eat a whole tub of my favorite ice cream. I think my mom knew, because she didn't even stop me like she normally would have. She just let me eat, then held my hands and cried." Her voice started to trail off. "And the next day those guys in the suits came, and she could barely say goodbye, she was crying so hard. The only thing she could do was give me a tight hug and slip a small carton of ice cream in my pocket to eat on the way to the Academy." Misaki picked her spoon up and posed it to dip into the ice cream, then dropped it again. "That's why I can't help but feel a bit of sympathy for these kids. Coming here with only the knowledge of what they already knew." She fell silent, and her eyes were glassy as she stared at the bowl. Tsubasa couldn't help but feel the urge to comfort her.

"I kinda know what you mean." Misaki raised her eyes slightly. "I don't remember much about when I was three either. I think the day before I came to the Academy, I was playing cards with my neighbor and he was getting mad because I kept on winning. So he said that he hated me and told me to leave, and the very next day I was taken away. My parents obviously knew because they just let me go without even saying goodbye." Misaki's eyes widened at this. "So I came here with the thought that everyone was going to be even worse, but it turns out that everyone was just as confused as me, and it was that thing we had in common that made us all bond." Tsubasa smiled. "These kids are just trying to do that too."

Misaki stared at him.

Then she started laughing.

"You really are stupidly deep," she scoffed as Tsubasa blinked in surprise. "I never thought just beyond becoming friends because we were little and it's easy to become friends when you're just a kid. Now you've gone and put all of these stupid thoughts into my head about what was really going on." Misaki stood, pressing some bills down on the table. "C'mon, I want to go apologize to Youichi before he permanently despises me."

It was then that Tsubasa released her shadow completely and his ever-growing love of her grew even more.

* * *

><p><strong>Central Town: Arisuchairudo, Lobby - 11 hours and 30 minutes into Day One, 30 minutes till closing<strong>

Tsubasa stepped around a lump of sleeping kids and walked over to where Megane and Misaki were sitting, watching the kids. Misaki had You-chan on her lap (who she'd made up with earlier after grovelling extremely) and was patting him as he slept.

"The little gremlins look so cute when they're asleep. If only they could _stay_ asleep," Megane said, sighing heavily and leaning back. "Were we ever that evil when we were elementary schoolers?"

Misaki snorted. "I'll bet."

Tsubasa whistled. "Gotta agree with her on that one, Meggie."

Megane snickered. "Misa and Shadow, sittin' in a tree, F-U-C-K—_ow!_ _The hell, man?_" He rubbed his arm where Tsubasa had punched him.

"Just shut up."

The trio was silent, watching and waiting for the bus to come. Suddenly Megane said quietly, "You really can't help but feel bad for them, you know? It's not their fault they aren't like regular kids. They haven't even really experienced how gruelling life in the Academy can be." He picked up a bouncy ball someone had left on the ground and began to bounce it. "All of the things a kid does—making mud pies and playing tag at the playground—have been replaced with this. And the Academy wonders why nobody trusts a word they say." Tsubasa and Misaki looked at each other. Misaki chuckled.

"Actually, we were just discussing that topic..." Tsubasa grinned, and then the bus pulled up.

He definitely wouldn't be quitting anytime soon.

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><p><strong>Central Town: Arisuchairudo, Manager's office - 5 minutes into Day Two, 11 hours and 55 minutes till closing<strong>

"Andou, you're fired."

"Wh-what? What did I do? I just started working here!"

"I'll tell you what you did. You sucked at your job. That's what."

"...If I'm allowed to ask."

"Shoot, before I lose my patience."

"How much of my paycheck will I have to let you dock to let me come back?"

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><p><em>Woooooooo :P<em>

_(And about that kid I told you about in the beginning...apparently he did not know the value of his cards. Then again, he was only five. I was nice by not trading him ALL crappy cards.)_

_...My deck of Pokemon cards is about 4 inches tall with beautiful randomness :D_

_The little bit about the shiny Pikachu also came from a personal experience. I was playing LeafGreen late at night and I was in the Viridian Forest, and right when I was about to leave I got a random encounter and it turned out to be a Pikachu, but with some "weird shiny stars" (my description as an eight-year-old) around it, so I told my brother and he was like, "What? That's a shiny Pikachu." Lulz._

_Iono if I'm gonna be able to update this regularly (seeing how long THIS one was), but...I'll try? :) I'm only making one for every two _obviousclichecouple_...I mean, every two characters anyways, and then I'm ending it ;d  
><em>

_So. Review? Please ;3 (And if you're wondering...long I, short I. That's the difference [referring to Lili vs. Lily].)_

_*fades back into the shadows*_

_~Ariisha-chan_


End file.
